Undercover

Flying his hand-built, opencockpit airplane through a golden sunrise while reveling in the beauty of Kentucky’s rural landscape is a mind-clearing experience for renowned sculptor Douwe Blumberg.

He likes to dream of ideas while in flight.

“It is about 5:45 a.m. I know I can be airborne in about an hour and be back when my studio staff arrives about 9:30 to begin the day’s work,” Blumberg said. “The freedom and grandeur of being engulfed by creation grounds me, and I return to earth rejuvenated.”

In his fine-art studio, inconspicuously nestled among the rolling, verdant hills of Pendleton County, California native Douwe (pronounced “Dow”) and his staff create sculptural artworks for private clients, municipalities and corporations across the nation and overseas.

Sitting on a ridge next to his elegantly simple and sophisticated Shaker-inspired home, which Blumberg designed, his 2,500-squarefoot studio is filled with monumental works in all phases of completion. Out front, awaiting delivery, stands an 18-foot-tall face slated for a roundabout in Raleigh, North Carolina. Two large equine bronzes hang from chain hoists for a Lexington client, while the finishing touches are being put on a life-sized clay veterans memorial for the state of Nebraska.

Testifying to the diverse interests of this correctly self-styled “Renaissance man” are various parts of a vintage airplane under construction alongside a sculpted motorcycle body slated for a Hollywood celebrity’s collection.

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Blumberg’s first career as a Saddlebred horse trainer in his hometown of Los Angeles brought him to Kentucky and instilled in him a love for the state that has not subsided. In 2002, after a decade of creating art on a strictly part-time basis, he chose to

close his barn and pursue his art full time. Though born and bred in the heart of Southern California, he always longed for a more rural lifestyle and geography, which led him to relocate to the Bluegrass State, where he met his now-wife, Marci, a Florence native. They have raised four daughters between them and just celebrated their 15th anniversary. After the couple wed, Marci quit her job with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to take the reins of the office management at Douwe Studios. She plays a key role in the success and international footprint they’ve acquired.

Influenced by his having been a horse professional, Blumberg’s early work leaned heavily toward equine subjects. The last decade has seen his focus shift to large public artworks of all genres and styles.

“I enjoy working on large pieces that allow me months and years to truly invest myself in them,” he said. “I also really love the idea of creating works that will outlast me and will bring joy and beauty to people’s lives. I’m especially passionate about

exposing people to the uplifting power inherent in fine art, especially people who might not normally encounter fine art in its traditional setting.”

He has large artworks scattered across the country, from Orlando to New York and from San Francisco to the University of Wisconsin, with dozens in between. Internationally, Blumberg’s works are in the royal residences in Dubai, Bahrain and France and private settings throughout Europe.

“I feel almost like an undercover agent living here,” Blumberg said. “We’re just these regular people living in the farmlands of Kentucky, and yet we’ve installed major artworks worldwide; met kings, vice presidents, celebrities, dignitaries and corporate presidents; given artist talks around the world … And then I put my jeans back on and come back to reality here. We’ve been extraordinarily blessed, and it’s really quite fun.”

One of his first Kentucky works was the 2011 Comair Flight 5191 Memorial at the University of Kentucky Arboretum in Lexington. The respectful sculpture features 49 shiny aerospace alloy birds ascending skyward from a black marble platform. Each bird represents a victim of the tragedy and contains a permanently embedded “memento capsule” filled by loved ones. Viewers say the site stirs emotions at all times of the day.

“The entire memorial site, infused with beauty, is intended as a place of reflection and healing,” Blumberg explained at the dedication. “To me, this place communicates the beauty that can arise from ugliness.”

Another Blumberg piece in the Commonwealth is a large musically themed structure at Kentucky Classic Arts at Centre Square in Lebanon.

One of Blumberg’s highest-profile works to date has been New York City’s “America’s Response Monument,” which pays tribute to the community’s response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Overlooking the National September 11 Memorial & Museum from Liberty Park in Manhattan, this classically sculpted equine bronze stands more than 16 feet tall. While traveling to its permanent site, the sculpture was aboard the lead float in the Nov. 11, 2011 New York City Veterans Day Parade, after which it was dedicated by then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Blumberg’s Las Vegas Veterans Memorial, a three-year project comprising 18 heroic-sized (10 to 12 feet tall) figures representing American military history on a 2-acre site, is the largest veterans memorial west of the Mississippi River. The impressive memorial commands a sun-rich site just off the Las Vegas strip.

The prestigious 2018 Public Art Network Year in Review Award went to Blumberg’s monumentally scaled abstract face “Convergence” in Salt Lake City, Utah. “My images attest to a body of work unabashedly exploring a diversity of styles and subjects,” Blumberg said. “This is completely intentional, reflecting a deep commitment to approach each art opportunity with a creative blank slate. It is important that my artistic vision be guided solely by the site, its people and energy, rather than my past works or technical limitations, so that the resultant works truly feel organic to their sites.”

Other notable recent works are his Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting memorial; an abstract herd of lifesized galloping horses in El Paso, Texas; and the University of Wisconsin mascot Bucky Badger, Blumberg’s first venture into working with illuminated stained glass, for which he partnered with glass artist Dan Barnes.

Blumberg’s work also is in many private and public collections in the United States, including the offices of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

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Reflecting on his move to Kentucky, Blumberg said, “People are always curious about me moving away from L.A., and I tell them that the lifestyle and natural beauty are simply more of a fit for me. Among other things, I’m only a one-day drive away from almost two-thirds of the country’s population.

“I’ve always had a connection with Kentucky. As a 17-year-old aspiring horse trainer, I drove myself across the country to intern for a summer with legendary Saddlebred trainer Don Harris at his Simpsonville barn. After that, I bought and sold many horses here during my training career and developed a love for the place and the people.”

Like many classically trained artists, Blumberg’s early style leaned toward the representational (realistic), and though he still enjoys working in that style, he has explored numerous styles and materials as his artistic vision grows and matures. “That early training was an excellent launching point to equip me with the skill set and freedom to follow my artistic vision,” he said.

Blumberg pays close attention to artistic influences blowing around him. “It is impossible not to receive influences from every direction one looks,” he said. “But I actually rarely go to a gallery event because I very much want my voice to be as natural and genuine as possible. It’s very intentional.”

Blumberg strives to be more of an influencer than one who is influenced.

“Every aspect of life is full of art to me, and it all interweaves. I sense the creators’ fingerprints in everything if I’m attuned to it, and it all informs my work. I see a supernatural artist at work in a sunrise, a baby, a tree, love … everything … oh, and flying, also!”

He spent 10 years building his reproduction 1929 wood-and-fabric airplane.

“Sometimes, I’ll just throw in a sleeping bag and some food and fly to a field somewhere and spend the night under the wing like the barnstormers used to,” he said. “I’ll wake up to a deer grazing, watch the sunrise, and fly home again in time for work. I love the adventure of it. “The sun just crests the horizon as I bank the plane east into the pink, orange and red sky. The sun illuminates low-lying mist in an uncanny reproduction of pink and gold cotton candy. Fog lifts and I fly low, watching egrets lift off as my shadow chases me across the green and brown fields.”

He smiled and said, “While flying through grandeur like this, I am somehow reminded that I need not take myself, nor this life, too seriously.” Q

BY RON SOODALTER

PART TWO OF THREE INSTALLMENTS